Pile splicer



Oct. 18, 1938. 1 A PARKS, JR" ET AL 2,133,563

` PILE SPLICER Filed NOV. ll, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. A. PARKS, JRI., ET Al.

PILE SPLICER oct. 1s, 193s.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @une Filed Nov. ll, 1935 20 with some protective substance, as for example, gaging faces since the cylindrical retaining shell 20 Patented oct. 1s, 193s 2,133,553

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PILE sPLIcER Joseph A. Parks, Jr., Milton, and John Upton,

Wayland, Mass., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Anderson Products, Incorporated, a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 11, 1935, Serial No. 49,170 14 claims. (c1. 61-63) This invention relates to a method and means The upper end of the pile is wedged in position of splicing structural columns. While this invenunder the structure it is intended to support and tion may be used to splice structural steel colthereafter secured thereto. umns, its most common application is in the Since the big bulk of the piles in harbor use splicing of wooden columns, particularly wooden support vertical loads principally and are rarely 5 piles such as are commonly used in river and harsubjected to serious lateral strains, the aforemenbor Work either as the support for docks, piers or tioned procedure might seem to be a satisfactory other structures positioned over the water or in solution. However, in actual practice it has been splicing piles for other marine purposes such as found impossible to cut the end of the old pile and slips, retaining walls, or for any other purpose the bottom end of the new portion that is to be 10 where it is necessary from time to time to replace placed thereon at such angles that when the new a pile, portion has been positioned the end surfaces will In coastal waters of the United States certain be in contact throughout their areas. Tlns remarine animals particularly amphipod Crustacea sults in the entire vertical load being carried by l5 known as the Chelura, Limnoria and the teredo relatively small portions of the engaging faces l5 have infested many harbors where they were prewith the result that the replaced upper portion viously entirely unknown. These borers feed acsoon settles materially under the pressure to say tively on wood and are particularly destructive nothing of the fact that it will often slip sideways to piles if the piles had not been originally treated vif there is any particular angularity to the encreosote. is relatively loose.

In the harbors where these amphipoda are de- Thus, by the old method a pile repaired in this structively prevalent at present, practically all of manner was relatively unsatisfactory due te its the piling was placed before these creatures made inabilitir t0 properly SllpDOlt the 10a-C1 fOl 21115 their appearance in these particular localities. As length of time without settling; to say nothing 25 a consequence, therefore, the big bulk of the pilof the fact that it had practically no lateral ing'in these places is entirely unprotected and strength. subject to the ravages of the aforementioned By our invention which will be disclosed here- Crustacea. inafter, we are enabled to position a new section As the pile is gradually eaten away there comes of pile on top of the old portion remaining in the 30 a time when it can no longer properly support the bed in such a way that it will have substantially load it is called upon to carry and it is necessary, all the properties of the original pile, that is to therefore, to replace the damaged pile in some say, the new portion will not settle nor can it shift way. laterally with respect to the bottom portion. At

Heretofore the practice has been to send a the same time thecost of replacing the pile by our 35 diver down alongside the pile and, by means method is less than the cost of the present method.

of a power saw operating in a horizontal plane, In the accompanying drawings: cut the pile off a short distance above the mud Fig. 1 shows a pile eaten away to such an extent line or the bottom from which the pile projects. that replacement is necessary.

Then, upon unfastening the pile from the struc-v Fig. 2 shows the damaged portion ci the pile 40 ture it is assisting to support at its upper end, the removed and our splicing unit about to be lowered damaged portion of the pile may be removed. in place.

That part of the pile which remains in the bottom Fig. 3 shows our splicing unit in place on the will generally be found to be in good condition as bottom portion of the pile.

43 the borers do not usually attack that portion of Fig. 4 shows the new pile in position and se- 45 the pile close to the bottom or that part which is cured to the lower portion by our splicing unit. embedded in the bottom. Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5-5 of Thereafter a new pile about the same length as y Fig. 3. the damaged portion that has been removed and Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section of our pile 5o roughly the diameter of the portion remaining splicing unit. 50 in the bottom is lowered into place on top of the Fig. '7 is a vertical view of our pile splicing unit. bottom portion. Heretofore the old and the new Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing the means parts have been held in alignment by means of a used to carry the unit to its position over the pile. loosely fitting, cylindrical metal sleeve which sur-l Fig. 9 shows means for preventing our splicing .55 rounds the old and the new portions at the joint. unit from settling into a soft bottom.

l i Y Fig. 10 shows other means for preventing our unit from settling into a soft bottom, being a view on line IU-Ill of Fig. 11.

Fig. 11 is a vertical cross-sectional View on the line II-II of Fig. 10.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive show the general series of operations involved in the practice of our invention, while Figs. 5 to 11 inclusive disclose the details of construction of the unit. n

In Fig. l a pile 2 having a lower end 3 has been driven into the bottom 4 and is shown as supporting a structure 6, which in this case is above th-e surface of the water 8.

Due to the destructive work of the aforementioned amphipoda the pile has been eaten away at Ii) to such an extent that it is materially weakened and should be replaced if it is to con-l tinue as a proper support.

In carrying out the method of our invention a diver is sent down and on inspecting the condition of the pile, saws it off at I2 as in Fig. 2, which point is below the damaged portion of the pile. In the best practice it is contemplated that the upper end i2 of the pile 3 shall be a distance above the bottom equal to approximately half the length of our splicing unit. In practice the length of the projecting pile is about 18 inches. If the point at which the pile is cut happens to be closer to the bottom, then a suitable amount of the bottom immediately surrounding the pile is cleared away by the diver so that there will be the proper distance from the upper end of the pile 3 to that part of the bottom immediately surrounding the pile.

The upper portion of the damaged pile is then removed, the supported structure 6 being maintained in position temporarily by adjacent piles.

With the bottom portion of the pile thus prepared it is now in condition for the application of our splicing unit.

The unit is shown in detail in Figure S5, 6, '1, 8, 9 and 10. The unit consists of a cylindrical shell I4 open at both ends and preferably made of sheet metal which may be cheaply and easily fabricated.

Positioned within the shell a short distance above the bottom is a ring I6 tting the shell rather closely, but still free to move with relation thereto. The ring I6 is suspended by three wires I8 positioned 120 apart, as shown in Fig. '1. The upper ends of the wires I8 have hooks 20 for engagement with cooperating means on a spider 22 shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 8. Attached to the top of the shell and spaced apart are the hooks 24 which are adapted to engage the spider 22 in the same manner as the wires I8.

By the foregoing arrangement both the shell I4 and the ring i6 may be suspended from the spider 22.

To provide a bottom for this unit we use a number of trapezoidal shaped sheet metal sections 26 the wide ends of which rest on the ring I6. The various sections 26 form a pyramidal bottom 21 the small ends of the sections engaging a keystone member 28. It is clear, however, that the bottom may be made of sections of varying shapes provided they meet to give the necessary truss action to support any loads that may be imposed thereon.

The bottom construction just described results in what we term a collapsible bottom the action of which will be described hereinafter.

As our splicing unit is subsequently to be filled with concrete, we provide reinforcement therefor in the form of helical member 30 to which is wired or otherwise secured at various points about its circumference vertical reinforcing members 32. Both the helical and vertical reinforcements are suspended above the bottom of the unit by means of the wires 34 which may be attached to the main wire supports I8, as shown, or to the shell I4 if more convenient.

The size of the unit in actual practice is about 36 inches high and 20 inches in diameter with the helical reinforcement 30 of sufficient diameter to permit the entrance of any pile ordinarily encountered.

With the shell I4, bottom 21 and reinforcements 36 and 32 all suspended from the spider 22, as shown at Fig. 8, the unit is then filled with concrete to within a few inches of the top, although if waste of concrete is no consideration, the unit could be entirely lled. It is believed clear from the construction shown in Fig. 6 that the weight of the concrete will be carried by the bottom 21 which in turn is supported on ring I6 by wires I8, and that the hooks 24 do not carry the weight of the concrete, but simply hold shell I4 in position. The clearance between ring I6 and shell I4 and between the sections 26 of the bottom 21 is sufficiently small so that the concrete cannot leak through.

The unit is then lowered into the water and guided by the diver to a position over end I2 of portion 3 of the old pile. Thereafter the unit is lowered on the pile so that the circumference of the upper end of the pile encounters the sections 26 of the bottom 21. As the unit is lowered still farther, the collapsible bottom engages the circumference of the top of the pile, resulting in the following composite and continuous action thereafter.

When the pile encounters the collapsible bottom, the bottom and the concrete supported thereby are necessarily retarded in their descent. However, the shell I4 and the supporting ring I6, because of their inertia, continue downwardly. As the ring I 6 commences to fall away from the outer edges of the bottom sections 26, the

weight of the concrete causes the sections to pivot about the circumference of the upper end of the pile, the outer ends of the sections 26 rotating inwardly to finally slip off the inner circumference of ring I6 while at the same time the inner ends of the bottom sections 26 necessarily rotate outwardly.

When this action has been completed, the shell I4 will be resting on the bottom and theV sections will be in substantially the position shown in Fig. 3.

In cases where the harbor bottom is not sumciently firm to prevent the shell from cutting thereinto, we provide a stop either in the form of a plate of sheet metal having a hole therethrough slightly larger than the pile which may be dropped over the end of the pile prior to the posi-- tioning of the container as shown in Fig. 9, or in the form of outwardly extending flanges projecting from the lower edge of the bottom of shell I4, as in Figs. l0, 11.

It will also be observed in Fig. 3 that the helical reinforcement has also been carried down about the upper end of the pile. The keystone 28 is resting on the upper end of the pile and the several sections 26 are in a generally vertical position in the concrete about the pile. The diver then disconnects the'spider from the various wires that have supported the shell, the bottom and the reinforcement and the spider is withdrawn.

The new section of pile 36, which may be cut several inches shorter than the damaged portion previously removed, is then lowered into the water. The diver guides the lower end of the new section into the upper end of sleeve i4; the pile is forced downwardly through the concrete which is of a consistency to permit entrance of the pile without undue diiculty. When the pile has entered the concrete to a suiiicient depth, the upper end of the new section 36 is swung under the structure 6 which is to be supported.

The combined buoyancy of the concrete in which the end of the pile 36 is resting and the water thereabove is sunicient to cause the pile 36 to tend to move upwardly against the structure 6. Because of this fact the new pile 36 is selfpositioning and no wedges need to be positioned between the upper end of the pile and the structure 6. See Fig. 4.

The concrete thereafter hardens, resulting in the old embedded portion 3 of the pile and the new section 36 being firmly and adequately spliced together by a reinforced concrete cylinder. Since the space between the abutting ends of the pile is completely filled with concrete, it is immaterial whether the ends of the pile are cut square or not since the load is distributed over the entire area due to the fact that both ends of these members are always in contact with concrete therebetween and a direct transference of load is effected thereby.

By the foregoing means and method we are able to repair damaged piles in such a way that the repaired pile is stronger at the point of splice than the original pile, and there is no possibility of the new portion of the pile settling with relation to the old portion nor can the new portion shift laterally with respect to the old portion.

While the foregoing description discloses a specific means of practicing our invention, we do not intend that our invention shall in any way be limited thereby, but only as dened by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A concrete positioning device comprising a tubular shell and a sectional arched bottom generally pyramidal in form, a ring secured within said shell, said bottom maintained in position by vertical engagement with said ring and by horizontal radial engagement with said shell.

2. A collapsible bottom for a concrete container comprising tapered sections supported at their wide ends by a ring and at their small ends by a keystone.

3. For use in connecting columns, a unit comprising a tubular casing having a sectional trusslike bottom generally pyramidal in form, a supporting ring positioned within the lower portion f saidcasing and supporting said sectional bottom, means connected with said ring and extending upwardly within said casing and carrying the vertical load to which said ring and bottom are subjected, circular reenforcements within said casing and means for suspending said reenforcements in fixed relation with said casing and bottom.

4. A containing unit, comprising a tube, detachable suspension means therefor, a pyramidal sectional bottom within said tube detachably suspended by members connected with said suspension means, and reenforcements suspended in fixed relation with said bottom within and substantially concentric with respect to said tube.

5. Means for positioning a quantity of concrete, comprising a tubular shell having a sectional generally pyramidal bottom, supported by a member positioned within the lower part of said casing.

6. For use in connecting columns, a tubular casing having a sectional pyramidal bottom therefor adapted to open when moved upwardly by engagement with a column, said bottom normally maintained in position within said casing by a ring independently suspended within said casing, and a circular reenforcing member positioned within said casing above said bottom.

7. A containing unit comprising a tube, suspension means therefor, a sectional bottom within said tube suspended from said suspension means, and reenforcements within said tube suspended from said suspension means whereby said tube, bottom and reenforcements may be maintained in xed relative positions.

8. A bottom for a container comprising a circumferentially extending ring, a plurality of sections arranged to form a generally pyramidal bottom, the outer end of each section supported by said ring, the inner end of each section supported by its coaction with the other sections.

9. A concrete positioning device comprising a tubular shell, an interiorly disposed supporting member Within said shell, a sectional trussed bottom generally pyramidal in form; said bottom supported by said member to substantially close said shell. Y

10. A concrete positioning device comprising a tubular shell and a collapsible trussed bottom generally pyramidal in form, said bottom comprising a plurality of tapered sections, a member bordering the internal circumference of said shell, means connected to said member and extending upwardly for maintaining said member in position, said sections maintained in position at their outer ends by engagement with said member and at their inner portions by mutual trusslike action.

11. Means for positioning a quantity of concrete, comprising a tubular shell, interiorly circumierentially extending means fixed in relation to said shell, a bottom comprised of independent sections arranged to form a generally pyramidal structure, the outer ends of said sections resting on said means, and the inner ends of said sections supporting each other.

12. A container comprising a tubular shell, an interiorly circumferentially extending member secured at the lower portion of said shell, and a bottom comprised of independent sections, said sections converging at the center to support each other, the outer ends of said sections resting on said member.

13. A containing unit, comprising a tube, suspension means therefor, a sectional bottom within said tube suspended by means connected With said suspension means, and reinforcements within said tube substantially concentric therewith.

14. Means for positioning a quantity of concrete comprising a shell, a generally pyramidal sectional bottom therefor, supported by a circumferential member maintained within said shell, and common suspension means whereby said shell and member are maintained in xed relative positions.

JOSEPH A. PARKS, JR. JOHN UPTON. 

